Who?
by Norwalker
Summary: So, what was really happening behind those emerald eyes of Willow's when she met Buffy? No, not that...mind out of gutter, folks. This is rated G. Read and review, if you will. Willow Buffy meetingfriendship


 Who?

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, thank you again for providing these supremely interesting characters that your loyal fans so enjoy writing about. Thank you, thank you, thank you.(God, am I a suck-up, or what?)

Author's Note: Ever wonder what really went on behind Willow's eyes when she first met Buffy? Well, I did. Unfortunately, since Willow Rosenberg refuses to grant interviews(privacy concerns), I have to make it up. Fantasy time! Short fiction, set in season one, episode one. Hope you enjoy.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Who?

~~*~~*~~*~~

Where is she? WHERE IS SHE? Willow Rosenberg thinks to herself, looking out the school bus window.

She watches as the town of Sunnydale is collapsing behind her. They knew something bad was happening when the ground shook , and the school started to collapse behind them. So they boarded the bus, trying to escape the earthquake's destruction. But Buffy Summers  was nowhere to be found. She'd been watching anxiously for her, but so far hadn't seen her. Oh, God, if Buffy dies…again… what are we gonna do? She thought to herself. Did she even make it out from the caves below the school? 

" Dawnie!?? Did Buffy make it out?" Willow calls to Dawn Summers, who, like her, is watching anxiously for her sister.

" I don't know, Willow. Everything started going crazy. I think so, but I can't be sure" Dawn replies, her face obviously worried.

All of a sudden, she sees Buffy. She is running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to outrun the destruction happening behind her. 

" Hurry, Buffy…. HURRY. Run faster!" Willow says to herself, scared that Buffy won't make it. " Slow down, Giles" Willow calls to Rupert Giles, who's driving the bus. "She's right behind us. We have to pick up Buffy!"

" I can't slow down, Willow. We'll never make it if I go slower" Giles responds, also worried about Buffy…but knows that they are a hairs breadth in front of the quake's effects.

Willow watches Buffy worriedly, praying to her goddess she makes it. Suddenly, Buffy leaps towards the street. Willow holds her breath… and hears a  loud THUNK on top of the bus as Buffy manages to land on the roof of the bus. Willow is almost beside herself in joy. Buffy made it !!!!!! She hears Buffy calling from above " Faster, go faster!"

Willow closes her eyes in relief, just as she hears someone calling her from the front of the bus.

"Willow?"

"Willow??"

" WILLOW!!!"

Willow opens her eyes, and sees herself seated at a desk. She is a sophomore at Sunnydale High, and is in history class. Everyone is looking at her, especially her teacher, who seems perturbed that she's had to call Willow's name repeatedly. Willow blushes profusely.

" I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question, please?" Willow asks, her face nearly as red as her hair. Oh, God! Not now. Not here… how long have I been daydreaming this time?

" I asked, Willow" Ms. Price said, giving Willow an odd look" Can you explain to us some of the root causes of World War I ?".

As she is about to answer, frantically thinking about the answer, the bell rings, and the class begins to get up to leave. 

  
"Don't forget, there will be a test covering the material in chapters 9-12 next time. Be ready, it'll be a hard one!" Ms. Price calls out to the departing class.

Willow begins to gather her stuff together, hoping against hope she can make a quiet and dignified exit before Ms. Price…

"Willow? Can I see you for a moment after please?" Ms. Price says to her.

Gulp!

Willow has been daydreaming a lot lately. Strange daydreams. About someone she doesn't even know. A … " Buffy Summers". Some mythical hero, something called a Slayer, who fights the forces of evil. And she's part of Buffy's group…a Slayerette. Weird. She's been puzzled, and more than a little frightened by these daydreams. So far, she's not been caught at it, but now….

"Willow?" Ms. Price says, looking at her with a concerned expression." Is everything ok? You seem to be… distracted lately."

"Uhhh…no…I mean, yes, everything's good" Willow stammers out." Sorry about today. Guess I was just a little worried about the test. I mean, its important I do well. Have to keep the average up if I'm going to get into a good college. Not that that's the only reason I want to do well. History is interesting. Where would we be without history, anyway? Just useless lumps not knowing anything about ourselves. And knowing ourselves is important, right? I mean, if we don't know ourselves, who else will we ever know…?" Willow babbles nervously. Oh, this is so bad!

"Willow. It's ok" Ms. Price tries to reassure her best student." You'll do fine. It's just lately, you seem to be rather…off in your own world. I was wondering if  everything was ok at home?"

"Oh. OH! No, no , everything's good! Good at home. Parents good! Family's good, friends are good. Just chock full of Mega goodliness." Willow says, babbling again, trying to divert the subject. Trying to get the heck outta here!

"Ok, Willow" Ms. Price gives her yet another odd look." But you know, if you need to talk to someone, or if there's a problem, you can come to me, right?" Ms. Price says. Willow's attention in class lately is so un-Willow like, that she's plainly worried about the shy red-headed girl.

" Right. Right" Willow says, edging towards the door.

"Ok, then, Willow. I'll see you tomorrow" Ms. Price says.

"Bye!" Willow calls back, nearly running for the exit.

Willow stands in the hallway for a moment, her breath coming in short gasps. She's clearly nervous, and has the dry mouth to prove it.

"God, what is happening to me? Why am I having these daydreams, anyway? What's going on here?"

Willow heads towards the water fountain, to wash out her mouth. As she's drinking, she's thinking she's gotta get a grip, so gotta get a hold of herself. This is craziness. They'll be packing her off to Looney Tunes land soon if she doesn't stop this silliness. As she's about to finish, a familiar, and much dreaded voice pipes up behind her.

"Willow! Nice dress! I'm glad to see you've discovered the softer side of Sears!" 

Cordelia Chase. Oh , god,  just what I need now, Willow thinks to herself. Willow freezes, then slowly looks up at Cordelia.

Willow seemed to be a particular target of Cordelia Chase, Sunnydale High's most popular, and most bitchy, student. Maybe because she is an easy target, maybe because for some reason she just doesn't like her, but Cordelia at times seems to go out of her way to humiliate Willow( Oh, right, I have to go hunting for losers…PUH-Lease, Cordelia says). With the daydreaming, and the hopeless crush she has on Xander Harris, and all the rest happening in her life right now( like, what, Willow? Cordy asks), the last thing she need right now is Cordelia Chase making life even MORE difficult. Arrgh!

As Willow looks at Cordelia, she notices the other girls standing next to her, and almost faints. OH MY GOD Willow gasps, IT'S HER!! THE GIRL IN MY DAYDREAMS. No, it can't be. This is totally wigging me. I…. I….

Willow is so stunned by the girl's presence next to Cordelia, she stammers out, rather foolishly

" Uh.. oh… well… my mom picked it out for me!" Willow says, trying desperately to find some escape.

"Well, it's no wonder you're such a guy magnet!" Cordelia says, the sarcasm plain in her voice. " Are you done?"

"Oh…." Willow looks at the fountain, then back at Cordy and the Mystery Girl. She blushes, and runs off.

" If you wanna get along here? First rule: Know your losers" Cordelia Chase says. Pointedly directing her remark at the departing Willow

The young Blonde girl  looks at Cordelia, then watches the departing girl.

Willow looks back at Cordelia and The Mystery girl, her mind all in a whirl. God, it's HER! I know it! But, that can't be! I've never seen her before. But it  IS her! Willow stops at the door, and looks back at the girl, and notices she's looking back at her! Oh god, Oh GOD… gotta go now! Gotta so go now!

Willow slips through the door, disappearing from view.

Willow's mind is a whirlpool of confused thoughts. Who IS that girl? Why am I daydreaming about her? HOW can I be daydreaming about her? I've never seen her before in my life, but there she is…er…well, there she was, in the flesh. This is insane! There's no way this can be happening. She can't be real… can she? I mean, she's just a figment of my imagination. But…No, no, no, no, NO!!! It's just a coincidence. I must have seen her around before, somewhere, and just forgot it. But… no… she's new. I know everyone . This isn't someone that's from around here. So, how did she get into my daydreams, anyway?

Willow tries to recall when the daydreams started. Not long ago, really. I just seemed to slip into them one day, and it's been like happening ever since. And they're so vivid. And there's  so much stuff going on. Even Mr. Giles, the new librarian, is in my dreams. Now, that's weird. Of course, he's totally cute…in an older British guy kinda way. But, I don't understand the connection… or the why's for that matter. What's the deal? The deal, Willow, is your nuts!!! It's a coinkidink, is all. That girl just resembles the girl in your dreams. Be rational, Will. There's no such thing as a "Slayer" for goodness sake! It's just some silly fantasy that overactive frontal lobe of yours created to deal with your otherwise totally boring life! Get real, and get back on track. Stop this nonsense, and concentrate.

But she looked just LIKE her! And, and … she was staring at me, back. I saw it! Yeah, well, you were so totally cool , now weren't you? Running off like a scared rabbit. She probably thought you were some nerdy geekazoid,  or something. I mean, look at her. She has "cheerleader" written all over her. Why would she hang out with a geek like you? C'mon, Will. Just forget it. Just a coincidence, that's all. Just a coincidence.

Willow kept repeating that to herself as she headed for her next class.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Willow is sitting in the quad area eating her lunch.

Alone. As she does many days.

If anyone is the polar opposite of Cordelia Chase, it's Willow Rosenberg. Where Cordy is bitchy and stuck up, Willow is sweet and shy. Where Cordy is popular, Willow is… well, she has friends, but no one would label her popular by any means. So, today, as she does many days, she's eating alone. She has her sandwich, and is munching away. But there is a dreamy cast to her face. She body is here… but her mind is far away….

…. They are standing by a crudely made, haphazard tower somewhere in the downtown section of Sunnydale. It's night. On the tower stand Buffy and Dawn. They are facing out, standing on  what looks like a platform high up on the tower. They are talking to each other, more, it looks like Buffy is talking to Dawn, who appears to be crying, and looking scared. Outwards of the platform, and just below them, an energy vortex is whirling.  Bolts of energy are emanating from the vortex,  causing damage to surrounding buildings. And strange, fantastical creatures seem to be coming from the vortex, demons and monsters like she's never seen in her life before.

Willow is standing next to Tara, holding her. Their faces are turned up to the tower where Buffy and Dawn are standing. They're scared, because they know the vortex, the portal, has opened a gateway to other dimensions, and some of those creatures are escaping into their world. If something isn't done soon, the very fabric of reality will be rendered, and the dimensions will merge, creating a hell on earth.

Dawn and Buffy seem to be having an argument, Buffy talking to Dawn; Dawn gesturing wildly, trying to hold onto Buffy. Suddenly, Buffy breaks away, and runs towards the end of the platform. Before anyone can stop her, she dives off the end, into the portal.

Willow watches from below, and hears a " NOOOOOOOOO" ripped from her throat. She knows what Buffy's doing. She knows that Buffy is going to die! Oh, my god, this can't, this CAN'T be happening. It's like her whole world is falling apart, as she watches Buffy dive into the portal. Her body is shaking, and she can feel the tears rolling down her cheeks. The girl next to her, Tara, takes her in her arms to comfort her. But it's too late… way too late… Buffy is….

" Uh, Hi! It's Willow, right?"

Willow, startled, part of the daydream still clinging to her mind, looks up. OH GOD, it's HER AGAIN!!! She panics, wondering what she wants.

"Why? Uh… I mean, did you want me to move?" Willow asks, clearly nervous.

The blonde girl smiles at her, and Willow has a sudden revelation

It  IS her! It's the girl in my daydreams. I don't know how, but somehow it's her. 

Willow senses something. That her life is about to be different. That knowing this girl is going to change her life in ways she can't even imagine. It's scary. It's downright crazy. And, it's something she's wanted for so long, she didn't even know she wanted it. Willow looks at the girl as she starts to talk.

" Let's start again. Hi, I'm Buffy" The girl says, smiling. OH MY GOD, THAT'S HER NAME IN MY DREAMS, TOO! Buffy continues." And uh…lets segue into where I ask you for a favor." Buffy sits next to Willow." It doesn't involve moving, but it DOES involve you hanging out with me for awhile!"

Willow was to hang out with Buffy for awhile.

A long, long while.

And she was right. Her life was never to be the same again.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Fin.

Like it? HATE IT?  Ok, I respect that. Just let me know what you think, ok?


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